Understanding a State of Emergency
EMERGENCY MEASURES ORGANIZATION--Understanding a State of Emergency
When disaster strikes every second counts. Because disasters often happen without much warning, decisions need to be made quickly as to how the city, town or province will deal with the disaster and ensure the safety of its citizens.
"Safety is really the number one concern when it comes to dealing with disasters," said Mike Lester, executive director of Nova Scotia's Emergency Measures Organization (EMO). "Often times special measures need to be put in place to ensure that people are safe and that they have access to essential services as quickly as possible."
In Nova Scotia, a municipality or province can declare a state of emergency if conditions exist which threaten the safety of its citizens. A state of emergency provides the authority to do what is necessary to ensure public safety and protection of property.
This may include restricting travel, ordering an evacuation of an area, authorizing the entry of a building without a warrant, or ordering a qualified person to do a particular job. During a state of emergency, the public is expected to comply with any orders that are given, which usually involve road closures, evacuations or the public staying away from certain areas. The municipality or province can authorize the police to enforce these requests.
A state of emergency also provides consumers protection against price gouging. Under a state of emergency, suppliers are not allowed to charge more then they normally would for essential goods and services.
"Declaring a state of emergency is not something that is taken lightly," said Mr. Lester. "It is done only in extreme cases where you need the special powers provided by this declaration to ensure the health and safety of the citizens."
Even though a state of emergency is not a common occurrence, there were two instances this year where the special powers were needed.
The first was when the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) declared a state of local emergency during Hurricane Juan. The state of emergency gave HRM the needed authority to order people away from dangerous locations prior to Juan making landfall. It also helped the city clear the roads of downed trees and power lines as quickly as possible. The municipality also used the state of emergency to ensure that the price of essential goods and services remained constant.
"Fortunately we don't have to use this legislation often, but it is comforting to know that it is there when it is needed," said Barry Manuel, emergency measures co-ordinator for HRM.
Four months after Hurricane Juan, the province was hit again, this time by a blizzard that blanketed the province with record- breaking amounts of snow. Snowplows were out in full force trying to clear as much of the snow away as possible. As with Juan, public safety was again an issue and emergency vehicles were impeded because of the snow covered roads.
Unlike Juan however, the entire province was affected by the blizzard. This made it necessary for the minister of the Emergency Measures Organization to declare a provincewide state of emergency.
"The provincewide state of emergency was critical to ensuring the safety off all Nova Scotians," said Ernest Fage, the Minister responsible for the Emergency Measures Organization. "By having people stay off the roads and highways we were able to ensure road crews were able to clear the roads safely and emergency vehicles were able to get to where they needed to go."
Emergency Preparedness Week takes place May 2-8 with participation from every province and territory. This year's theme is Prepare Now! Learn How! For more information on being prepared, visit the Nova Scotia Emergency Measures Organization's website at www.gov.ns.ca/emo/ .